UK, 9th February, 2026: New insights from global data and technology company, Experian, and Reward, global leader in customer engagement and commerce media, shows that health and wellbeing spending has shifted from a seasonal January behaviour to a consistent, all-year round protected part of household budgets.
By analysing spending patterns across 2024, 2025 and the first weeks of January 2026, the research shows that growth in health and wellbeing is being driven by higher spend per person, rather than an increase in customers.
In the first two weeks of January 2026, overall spend on health and wellbeing rose by 3.9% year-on-year, despite customer numbers falling by 2.8%. Spend per customer increased by 6.8%, showing that those who continue to prioritise health are committing more of their budget to it. The data suggests that January is no longer viewed as a reset period, reflecting how health and wellbeing is now prioritised within household budgets throughout the year rather than treated as discretionary spend.
Gyms, which were once the focal point of January health spending, are now playing a more settled role in people’s routines, with customer churn easing from 11.1% in 2024 to 7.3% in 2025. In January 2026, gym spend increased by 2.8% year-on-year, continuing trends already seen at the end of last year rather than showing a January spike.
Beyond gyms, health-related spending is increasingly showing up in everyday purchases. Sportswear and outdoor clothing saw growth of 12.8% year-on-year in January 2026. Similarly, specialist grocery, including meal prep and wholefood providers, grew by 12.7% year-on-year in December 2025. These insights show how health is shaping everyday choices, alongside fitness memberships. For brands, this points to a wider health audience that extends beyond gyms and into everyday food, clothing and lifestyle spend.
Colin Grieves, Managing Director of Experian Marketing Services, Experian UK&I, said: “Health and wellbeing is no longer just a new-year priority. People are maintaining these habits throughout the year, even as they make difficult budgeting decisions elsewhere.
“Granular spending data helps brands understand what people and their customers are prioritising in their life. These rich levels of insight make it easier to plan media and messaging around genuine behaviour, rather than assumptions or seasonal spikes in consumer activity.”
By understanding where, when and how what groups of people are spending on health and wellbeing, Experian Marketing Services and Reward help brands identify high-intent audiences and engage more effectively, using real-world behaviour to support more relevant campaigns.
ENDS
Methodology
This analysis is based on anonymised transactional and merchant information from Reward’s Customer Engagement programmes, using insights from over 1.4 billion card transactions from 10% of UK households across 4,000+ retail brands. The dataset includes both online and in-store purchases.
The analysis covers the period January 2024 to December 2025, including a view of January 2026 based on the first two weeks of available data. All data is fully anonymised and aggregated in line with GDPR and privacy requirements.
Health and Beauty includes spending across gyms and fitness, beauty products, beauty salons and spas, health and nutrition, pharmacies, and healthcare providers.
About Experian
Experian is a global data and technology company, powering opportunities for people and businesses around the world. We help to redefine lending practices, uncover and prevent fraud, simplify healthcare, deliver digital marketing solutions, and gain deeper insights into the automotive market, all using our unique combination of data, analytics and software. We also assist millions of people to realise their financial goals and help them to save time and money.
We operate across a range of markets, from financial services to healthcare, automotive, agrifinance, insurance, and many more industry segments.
We invest in talented people and new advanced technologies to unlock the power of data and to innovate. A FTSE 100 Index company listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN), we have a team of 25,200 people across 33 countries. Our corporate headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland. Learn more at experianplc.com
About Reward
Reward is a global leader in Customer Engagement and Commerce Media, with operations in more than 15 markets across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Positioned at the intersection of banking and retail, our cutting-edge platform fuses technology, data insights and digital marketing to power richer customer experiences, unlock measurable sales growth and drive lasting loyalty.
We’re on a mission to make everyday spending more rewarding. To date, we’ve returned over $2 billion in cashback to customers, with a clear commitment to reach $4 billion by 2030. This success is built on our strong network of strategic partnerships with some of the world’s most recognisable brands.
For more information, please visit www.rewardinsight.com.